L G wrote:
>
> >Im sure alot of you know this, but I didn't - The P-51 Mustang was
> >rubbish until they put a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine in it. And that it
> >was designed by Americans for the British?
> >
> >Does anybody find this strange?
>
> IIRC-the P-51 Mustang was actually a collaborative effort by the British and
> the Yanks. In fact, "P-51 Mustang" is the U.S. name-though at this point I
> don't remember what the Brits called it. Though I have had British friends
> tell me that the Mustang is related to the Supermarine Spitfire...
>
> Laura G. (My WWII Warbird "expert" is out of town right now, or I'd call and
> get the answer...)
>
In lieu of an "Expert", I consulted my copy of "The Great Book of WW2
Airplanes" and in the chapter about the P-51, it explains that the British came
to the US looking to purchase planes to fend off the Germans and originally
wanted to buy the Curtiss P-40 which was the top plane of its time. But
because of Curtis' committments to the US Army Air Corps they could not meet
their needs.
The British delegation then went to North American to see if they could build
the P-40 for them but North American instead submitted their own combat
aircraft design which had the same engine as the P-40 (an Allison V-1710-39).
The contract was approved on May 29, 1940 and an order for 320 aircraft
was placed at a cost of $15 million (less that the cost of one of today's
fighters). The new plane was designted NA-73 (Since it was not designed for
the USAAC it had no official US designation).
The first plane rolled out on Oct. 26, 1940. Before the bugs were even worked
out, the British added another 300 planes to the order at the height of
the Battle of Britain. The new order added some design changes and the
modified design became the NA-83.
At the same time, the US government became interested in the design and
designated it the XP-51. The name Mustang was suggested by the British in
keeping with its propensity to do such things. The name was based on a song
that had made the rounds of both the North American and European
continents at the time (the song's name was not mentioned in the article).
The first production airraft was test flown April 25, 1941 and accepted by the
British on May1. The first plane sent to England arrived in Liverpool
Oct. 24, 1941.
The article goes on to describe how the plane would not have had as much of an
impact if it had not been re-equipped with a Merlin engine later on.
The Packard company was engaged to build the Rolls Royce engines in the United
States under contract to RR. Lots of different series planes were
subsequently produced, most with Rolls Merlin engines. Some were also built in
Australia by Commonwealth Aircraft Corp. under license to North
American. Many of these planes were equipped with Rolls built engines shipped
directly from Britain.
Now aren't you glad you asked? :)
Joe
P.S. The plane was designed entirely in the US and was not a cooperative
design. Only the Rolls Merlin engines were the British Component (and not an
insignificant one at that)!
/// spitfires@autox.team.net mailing list
/// or try http://www.team.net/cgi-bin/majorcool
|